Millers lead youthful Kidron Softball past veteran Wooster Glass team

Wednesday

WOOSTER -- Competing with Kidron Softball is a simple matter of keeping the Millers off the bases.

Except that with seven of them in Kidron's starting lineup, it's not easy.

Playing Wooster Glass Tuesday in the finals of Wooster Parks & Rec's Upper division playoffs, Kidron's first six batters -- five Millers and Merlin Weaver -- got on base and scored. The area power, made up of 19-to-21-year-olds, then played flawless in the field and added runs in every inning but one to topple the Glassmen 14-8 for the title at Lower Schellin Field.

Kidron (14-3) was victimized twice during Wooster Glass' perfect regular season, but knocked the Glassmen into the loser's bracket in Tuesday's first game, 10-5. Glass then eliminated Shri-Dog 23-8 to get another shot at Kidron, but despite answering the winner's six-run first with four of its own, could never catch up.

Jimmy Miller hit the first pitch of the final game over the fence in left, followed by singles by Kevin Miller and James Miller and a three-run homer to right-center by Jason Miller. Mark Miller followed with a double down the line in left, and after a walk and two flyballs, Duane Miller delivered a two-run single.

Having used two of its three allowed homers in the first, Kidron kept lining hits. Kevin Miller tripled and scored in the second, then smacked a two-run homer in the third, while Weaver, John Yoder and Jim Yoder were responsible for two-run innings in the fifth and seventh.

"We were just focusing on base hits," said Kidron coach Leroy "PeeWee" Miller, who has guided the team to state and world 18-under championships over the past few seasons.

"We were out of home runs so we had to," he added. "I told the guys not to worry about it, just go up and hit it hard and don't hold anything back. I think that helped us out."

Glass matched Kidron's 17 hits, with Myron Miller (HR, 3 RBI), Tom Obrst and Brad Arnette collecting three each. Brad Carpenter, Matt Miller and Drew Taylor all added two hits, but the Glassmen, after the four-run first, could only get as close as 12-7 in the fifth.

"We just plain didn't hit the ball and they got a lot of two-out hits," Carpenter said. "No excuses, we just didn't hit.

"But we had a lot of fun, and we won the regular season. That counts for something," the veteran outfielder added. "And we were 2-2 against them this year. Maybe we'll see them again down the road in a tournament."

Kidron, errorless in the field, got three hits apiece from Kevin Miller and John Yoder. Mark Miller, Weaver and Jeff Yoder all had a pair of hits for the winners.

"I think we played pretty good defense -- the outfield talked and helped each other, and we made the plays when we had to," PeeWee Miller said.

Kidron has bigger goals, including an October visit to Salem, Va. for the ASA D Nationals, but the players were still satisfied to have won the league playoff title.

"It was nice to play here so I didn't have to schedule any games during the week," PeeWee Miller said. "But we try our best every time we play, and tonight we got good hitting, fielding and pitching."

Mike Plant can be reached at 330-287-1649 or mplant@the-daily-record.com

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